Reunion Weekend

This past weekend was one of my favorite weekends of the year - our Shelton Family Reunion. Even though we were missing several "regulars", we still had a great time.

The reunion is actually on Sunday, but we have made it a weekend-long, camping tradition. Normally, Matt and I tent camp, but with Colton being 5 months old (and it being his first camping/reunion experience) we - quickly - accepted my Uncle Pat's offer of using his camper this year.

We packed up and headed to Shelton Laurel on Friday, around noon. We got settled in, did some fishing and enjoyed roasting hot dogs and S'mores around the fire before the rain set in. Tropical Storm Andrea was busy stirring up trouble down in Florida, so I'm not sure if it was Andrea or the storm from the West that brought the rain Friday night - but rain it did. It started raining around 8pm on Friday and (I'm not joking) did not stop until 5am Saturday. Lucky for us, we were in a camper but the tent campers were not so lucky. Despite waking up to soaking wet tents, everybody was in a pleasant mood and welcomed the sunshine on Saturday morning.

Saturday was a beautiful day! The sun stayed out all day and we were able to hike, play volleyball and enjoy our annual wings. :-) The kiddos even had a water fight. Saturday night was Colton's first camp fire experience. As we all gathered around the fire on Saturday night, we shared stories, played games and did a lot of laughing. Thankfully the stars were out and we ALL had a great night for sleeping in the dry.

Sunday morning brought a little bit of bad news when we learned that my Papaw Shelton might have a case of Shingles. After a visit to the Emergi-Clinic, it was confirmed. Per Doctor's orders, he was to keep his distance because he is at the most contagious stage.  My Papaw LOVES reunion weekend and I felt so bad that 1) he isn't feeling well and 2) that he had to miss out on visiting with everyone. We're keeping our fingers crossed that he caught it early enough and that the medicine will kick in before he feels too much pain!

We definitely missed the faces that couldn't be there this year, but really enjoyed visiting with the ones that did make it. Colton got to meet so many new family members and he handled all the "fame" like a champ! I'm so thankful for our big, loving family and look forward to this weekend get-together all year long. :-) We only have 364 days until we get to do it again...

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